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ContentsLSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5LSP:Open-Source

Basic Principles and Philosophy

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Introduction

Why make things, rather than just talking?

What LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is, and what LEGOSERIOUS PLAY is not Introduction

The Core of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

The three basic phases of t he LEGO SERIOUSPLAY process

The etiquette of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY skills building

When and why to use LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

Reflection, ownership and collaboration

Using LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

Leading the process through facilitation

Reflection and Dialogue

Creating LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshops that work

Taking it further

4 - 5

6 - 7

8 - 9

10 - 11

12 - 13

14 -17

18 - 19

20 - 23

24 - 25

26 - 27

28 -29

30 - 31

32 - 33

34 -37

38 - 41

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This document outlines the basic principles of

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY. It has been made available

by the LEGO Group under a Creative Commons licence

(Attribution Share Alike: see http://creativecommons.

org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ for licence details). Over the

past decade, the LEGO Group has supported therigorous and careful development of three types of

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY resources:

1. The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY basic principles

and philosophy, upon which everything else

is built;

2. The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY materials sets

of specially selected LEGO bricks and pieces;

3. LEGO SERIOUS PLAY applications

detailed roadmaps of different workshops

which make use of the principles and

philosophy, and the materials.

LEGOSERIOUS PLAY

Basic principles and philosophy

In the past, all three of these were only available

to trained and certificated consultancy professionals.

From June 2010, however, the first two of these have

been made open source. This document outlines

the basic principles and philosophy; and LEGO SE-

RIOUS PLAY boxes (large sets of LEGO bricks andpieces) are now on sale from the www.seriousplay.

com website.

It does not include detailed applications, because

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is entering a new phase.

New applications will be developed by the international

community of users, and may be shared online. In this

new phase, we welcome creative uses of these tools,

and innovation in the community. This document

introduces users to the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

approach, so that good use can be made of the

materials. However, in order to make the best use of

these methods it is likely that you would benefit from

the help of a trained LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitator.

First published June 2010

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Origins of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is built upon a process whichstems from the heart of LEGO bricks and the LEGO

system. Looking for a tool to unlock innovation within

the company, the LEGO Group realized that a solution

might be found in the LEGO System itself: just as the

LEGO Group had been telling children to build their

dreams for decades, so perhaps adults could be

asked to build their visions for future strategy.

Building upon the inclusive and participatory nature

of the LEGO System, LEGO SERIOUS PLAY rejects

the idea that external experts must be brought in to

identify problems, and to propose solutions; on the

contrary, LEGO SERIOUS PLAY begins with the

assumption that the answers are already in the room,

and invites participants to think with their hands to

build their understandings. Every member of the team

participates, and everyone has a voice.

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY went through a number of

iterations from 1998 to 2010, and has been successfully

used by businesses around the world. Furthermore,

the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY concept has been

developed to meet the needs of teachers and educators,

and specially designed LEGO SERIOUS PLAY for

Education products and training are available for this

target group (see http://educatorsweb.lego.com).

Why use LEGO bricks?

There are a number of reasons why LEGO bricksare particularly well suited to this kind of process.

The material makes it easy for participants to put

together satisfying models which represent something

that they wish to communicate. They do not need

significant technical skills; the LEGO System is familiar

to many, and even if they have not used LEGO

bricks before, most people find it quite easy to

build meaningful constructions.

LEGO bricks come in many shapes and colours, and

can often provide inspiration for metaphors through

serendipity. They can be built into simple or complex

forms, as suits the personality of the builder, and

research has shown that people from all walks of

life feel comfortable attaching diverse metaphorical

meanings to LEGO bricks.

LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5

Introduction -Origins of LEGOSERIOUS PLAY

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LEGO SERIOUS PLAY offers an engaginghands-on environment, where the activity isperceived as meaningful, ones abilities arein balance with the challenge at hand, andone has the tools to express the emergingknowledge.

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Why make things,rather than just talking?

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY exemplifies the virtues of

the LEGO System as a whole. It is creative, enabling,

and open. It does not set any path for the individual

or group to follow, but rather embraces and supportsany ideas that may emerge, and encourages

development and collaboration to make these

stronger. Every stage of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

process involves building with LEGO bricks, utilising the

hand-mind connection: there is never a point where

participants merely sit back and write down, or chat

about, the issues without building their response first.

Therefore everything that is discussed comes from

out of the building process, where the hand and mind

engage to give visual, metaphorical shape to meaningful

things, emotions, and relationships.

The idea that we need to think with the body has

gained support from a convergence of new evidence

from psychology and neuroscience. These theories

emphasize that cognitive processes such as

learning and memory are strongly influenced by the

way we use our bodies to interact with the physical

world. These processes are supported by the use of

LEGO bricks, because when a system has an inherent

logic, and a set of constraints that can be grasped, it

can support endless possibilities. It is easy to pick up,

and yet enables development, experimentation and

expansion. Our mental work is helped by being able to

build visual reminders of different significant aspects

of a problem. Neuroscientific researchers have called

this reduction of workload reducing the number of

things the brain has to deal with at once by off-loading

the meanings into visible and tangible objects.

Research has shown that the process of making

something, which is then discussed, can lead to

much more valuable, insightful and honest

discussions. (See, for example, David Gauntlett:Creative Explorations, 2007, and Making is Connecting,

2011). The creative, reflective process of making

something prompts the brain to work in a different

way, and can unlock new perspectives. In addition,

when all participants have a constructed object in

front of them, at the start of a discussion an object

which represents what they think is important about

the issue at stake, before anyone has said a word

about it this gives all participants the opportunity

to set their own issues on the table (literally and

metaphorically), and they all have an equal standing.

This is quite unlike the typical discussions that occur

in places of work, where a dominant personality often

identifies the key issues at the s tart, and then the

rest of the conversation follows from there. In LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY, everyone builds, and everyone

discusses. This gives more junior or less vocal

members of a team the chance to have a say, and

perhaps more importantly offers the senior or

dominant members the opportunity to listen to

insights and challenges which they may not have

otherwise heard. Indeed, the process of building and

collaborating often produces insights which simply

would not have appeared in regular discussions.

When we give shape and form to our imagination,

by constructing and externalizing concepts

making them tangible and shareable we can

not only reflect on them ourselves, but invite others

to reflect with us. LEGO SERIOUS PLAY offers an

engaging hands-on environment, where the activity

is perceived as meaningful, ones abilities a re in

balance with the challenge at hand, and one has

the tools to express the emerging knowledge.


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Users of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methods have

to recognize that the strengths of the process lie

in its cycles of building, reflection, and collaborative

learning. It is a particular kind of facilitated process,used for particular purposes. Therefore:

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is not a fun ice-breaker

exercise to start off a meeting. You can use

exercises with LEGO bricks for this purpose, of

course, but it is not LEGO SERIOUS PLAY.

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is not a tool for building

organizational diagrams or for planning physical

environments (such as buildings or work spaces).

You can use LEGO bricks for this purpose, of

course, but it is not LEGO SERIOUS PLAY.

Also:

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is not anything that

anybody says can be done in an hour.

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is not about

communication as persuasion, where one

member of the team persuades others that

their point of view is the only relevant one, or

where the manager communicates messages

to their staff.

The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology offers

a sophisticated means for a group to share ideas,

assumptions and understandings; to engage in rich

dialogue and discussion; and to work out meaningfulsolutions to real problems.

A LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop typically takes

at least one day. At its shortest, a LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY workshop takes three or four hours.

Unsurprisingly as time is tight in business, and

everywhere else efforts have been made, over

the years, to reduce the length of time that LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY takes. But it has clearly been found

that shorter workshops are ones of significantly lower

quality. If a facilitator was to leave out the skills-build-

ing exercises and leap straight into a complex task

and encourage participants to race through it quickly

this is simply not effective.


What LEGOSERIOUS PLAYis,and what LEGOSERIOUS PLAYis not

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The process structure

The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method is built upon

basic knowledge about how people and groups bestlearn and develop. The process structure of

the LSP process is building upon a learning process

that ensures that people take ownership of their own

learning and learn the most. This learning

process implies four steps that you move through in

a spiral:

1. The first step of the ideal learning spiral is to

help people connect to what they are going

to explore, and to understand the context

and meaning of what they are about to learn

more about.

2. The second step is to involve people in a

process where they create a product connected

to the targets of exploration, involving their own

knowledge and reflections as well as their own

creative skills and their own hands.

3. The third step is to help people reflect on what

they have created and look deeper into their

own reflections about their own product, in order

to become aware of what their explorations

have brought them, and in order to gain more

insights.

4. The fourth step is that people get a chance to

connect their newly gained knowledge to new

explorations they would want to pursue.

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is a method that enables

constructive reflection and dialogue processes.

During a structured process, participants use LEGO

bricks to create models that express their thoughts,reflections and ideas.

The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method creates the

framework within which the bricks are being used

and without this framework, it would not be a LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY process.

The core of the LEGO SERIOUSPLAY concept consists of:

Process structure:A basic, step-by-step

process structure

Bricks:The use of the bricks as implements

to create visible, tangible 3D-models that

represent thoughts, reflections and ideas.

Participants etiquette

Facilitators code of conduct

LSP:Open-Source/1/2 /3 /4/5

The Core of LEGOSERIOUS PLAY

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When people go through an iterative process like

the one described here, they are learning something

profoundly, and they take ownership not only for their

own learning process but also for the things learnedand even for taking the knowledge to the next level

and developing even more with it.

The process structure of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

builds on the insights about this effective learning pro-

cess, and the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method relies

on this specific process structure to create an ideal

environment for constructive reflection and dialogue.

This structure consists of three basic phases that must

be covered by any LEGO SERIOUS PLAY process.

To exploit all the advantages of the method as a tool

for constructive reflection and dialogue, it is impera-

tive that the three basic phases of the process are

covered every time and in the correct order.

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The three basic phases of the LEGOSERIOUS PLAY process

The three basic phases of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAYprocess structure are:

Phase 1: The Challenge:

The facilitator poses the

building challenge to theparticipants.

Phase 2: Building:

The participants build a

LEGO model representing

their reflections on the

building challenge.

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3

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Phase 3: Sharing:

The participants share the

meaning and the story that

they have assigned to their

own models.

Considering the purpose of the workshop in advance,

the facilitator has formulated each building challenge

in a way that will open up reflection and dialogue.

When the process starts, the building challenge is

posed to the participants, the building time is madeclear, and the facilitator asks participants to build a

model with their LEGO bricks that expresses their

thoughts on, or response to the building challenge.

The facilitators choice and formulation of the building

task is crucial for participants experience of the

process. The challenge for the facilitator is to

formulate the building task so that it best serves

the purpose of the workshop while following the

basic principles of the method.

In the building phase, participants build their response

to the building challenge with LEGO bricks.

While building their models, participants assign

meaning and narrative to their models by means of

metaphors, figures of speech, and narratives. During

construction of the model, the individual participant

undergoes a reflective process through which they

gain a clearer and more detailed conception of and

insight into their own reflections and thoughts.

The building process both inspires and supports

the reflective process, and participants are given

a chance to think with their hands. The fact that

participants use their hands to build concrete,

three-dimensional models of their reflections and

ideas, gives them easier access to the knowledge

and experience that is stored in their minds and it

catalyses new trains of thought.

Phase 2: Building2

1 Phase 1: The Challenge

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This sequence challenge, then building, then

sharing is repeated several times in any LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY session. It is the basic building

block of any LEGO SERIOUS PLAY process.


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The point of the sharing phase is that participants

share their stories and assigned meanings about

their models with each other. So one at a time, each

participant shares the significance and story that

they have assigned to their own model. It is very

important that each participant gets the chance to

share the story about their model. The sharing is in

itself a reflection process, in that when they share their

models, participants explore their own expressions

more closely. Those listening also have an opportunityto explore in more detail what the narrator expresses

through the model. The facilitator plays a crucial part

in the sharing phase when asking facilitating questions.

Facilitating questions are asked with the purpose of

getting participants to reflect more and share more

about their thoughts and ideas with each other.

It is crucial that each persons voice is heard during

this process. Everybody shares what is on their minds,

and everybody is listened to. This is very important to

reach one of the purposes of the LSP process: to let

everyone share their thoughts in a constructive way

and to give everybody a chance to hear each others

points of view. This is on the one hand to create a

shared understanding of the groups way of handling

the situation, and on the other hand to create the best

starting point for people to feel ownership for the

reflections and ideas expressed. Eventually this will

help them to arrive at the s olutions and actions that

need to be taken in order for them to handle the

situation the best way possible.

3 Phase 3: Sharing

The Bricks

The Etiquette of LEGOSERIOUS PLAY

The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY process should be carried out in ac-

cordance with a set of principles that are managed and control-

led by the facilitator. This set of SERIOUS PLAY principles is an

integral part of the method, and is known as the Etiquette.

To ensure the integrity of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY process,

and to gain the greatest benefit from it, participants must remem-

ber and adhere to these guidelines. The facilitator has the task of

making the etiquette clear to participants throughout the process.

The principles build on a set of values that are central to the

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method and the thinking that lies

behind it.

These basic values state that:

The answer is in the system. Therefore, the LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY method is all about participants

expressing themselves and listening to each other.

The multitude of contributions to the dialogue is the

important part. The method has the overall goal of getting

participants to express their reflections and thoughts

never to produce correct answers or facts.

There is no ONE right answer. Everyone has different

views, and this is a good thing. The process enables these

different perspectives to come out in the open without

anybody saying which is right or wrong.

The LEGO models are tools, and means to an end. The model in

itself is not the result the model building is a helpful process

while reflecting on an issue or problem, and the model is a tool

for participants to express and to understand more. The

meanings attached to each model are what make it valuable.


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Participants should have equal access to a good range of bricks and pieces,

so that they feel they have a pleasing opportunity to express themselves.

The LEGO sets developed for LEGO SERIOUS PLAY processes are

recommended as ideal for this purpose, as they contain many different

pieces, shapes, animals and other useful parts. It has been found that using

only the most basic rectangular bricks can be frustrating for participants,

who do not necessarily want a difficult building challenge. Instead, animals,

flags, minifigures, domes, and a wide range of other attractive shapes make

it easy for people to pick out metaphorical elements.


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What counts is your meaning for your model and

only the person who built the model knows what

it means. This means that:

1. Participants are free to ask questions about each

others models and storiesbut they may not

express an opinion about or interpret each others

models or stories.

2. The facilitator asks questions about the model

and the storynot about the person. Focus

must be on the model and the story around the

modelnot on the person describing the model.

Listen with your eyes: Look at the model that is

being shared use your visual sense to grasp

and understand even more of what the other

participants are describing.

Everybody participates during the full process.

The basic values also translate into the following code

of conduct that the facilitator should keep in mind

when using the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method:

Facilitators code of conduct

ALWAYS follow the 3 ba sic phases of the process.

Maintain flow in the process. Introduce participants

to the method in accordance with the section

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY skills building. Be

process-oriented and aware of participants

needs as the process develops.

Assign building challenges that are clear and

serve the workshops purpose: When creating the

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY processes, the facilitator

must take into account their knowledge about the

participants starting point.

A building task must always be completed

individually before it may be completed in a

group. The level of reflection achieved in the

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY processes is a

movement from individual reflection to group

reflection (where group model building is utilized).

Use the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY models actively

look for answers in the models and look for details

about the stories, the thoughts, ideas and

reflections in the models. When the LEGO models

are used actively in the process, they are ideally

suited as tools to promote constructive reflection

and dialogue. Therefore, the facilitator should keep

focus on the models, i.e. trust the method and

return to the models when facilitating the process.

1. Remember that asking questions of the person who

built a specific model is optimal utilization of the

models potential as an implement in the process.

Such questions must be aimed at exploring the

model and/or the relationship between several

models and the story told. Never ask questions that

require the person to explain why they intended the

model to express what it does.

2. The models are ideal for bringing out more details

and nuances in participants descriptions of their

reflections; and helping participants focus specifi-

cally on the reflections they are sharing, rather than

on the individuals involved.

Everyone must be given the chance to explain their

model. When participants are asked to build and

do their best, it is crucial that they feel that their

stories are listened to. Similarly, it is crucial that

their contributions to the process are accepted

and recognizednever as a simple truth, but for

the way, that person shares their story today and

from a personal perspective.


The etiquette ofLEGOSERIOUS PLAY

Participants Etiquette

The basic values listed above translate into the

following etiquette that participants should adhere to:

The facilitator poses the building challenges, sets

the building time and guides the process.

The LEGO model ISyour answer to the

building challenge.

There are no wrong answers: There is no right

and no wrong way to build. What the model

looks like is not the most important thing. What

is important is what the participants can share/

describe through the model. If the participant

says that a model represents something

specific, then that is what it is!

Think with your hands: If you dont know what

you want to build, it is often a good idea just

to start building. The facilitator may encourage

participants to do this and say that they should

let their hands do the thinking.

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Principles for the skills building process

The first time a group of people uses LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, the first couple of hours

are of crucial importance in ensuring participants experience of flow. The facilitator

ensures flow by applying the principles for LEGO SERIOUS PLAY skills building

and taking participants through the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY skills building process.

The aim of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY skills building program is to acquaint

participants with the following aspects of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method:

1. The three basic phases of the process.

2. The Etiquette.

3. Use of LEGO bricks as personal metaphors.

4. The use of the LEGO models to share thoughts and present stories.

5. The function of the models and stories as implements in active

listening and constructive dialogue.

The skills building must be taught to participants hands-on. It cannot be conveyed to the

participants only verbally telling people about the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method and

what they are supposed to do during the process will not bring them into flow with the

method. They will have to experience it.

Therefore it is necessary that at the start of any LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop,

participants should be led through a series of skills-building exercises, such as this

sequence:

To introduce participants to LEGO bricks and to the experience that they are all

able to build with the bricks, they are invited to each build a tower. The towers

can be tested for stability by the facilitator, causing some of them to break.

Participants will typically be sad to see their tower shatter, and this is taken as

a learning point: illustrating the emotional connection we can quickly develop to

things we have built with our own hands. When participants have built their towers,

the facilitator should ask them to share something about their own tower such

as their immediate thoughts about it. Including the sharing phase at this stage will

make sure that the participants are introduced to the basic phases of the process

from the very beginning. The facilitator can lead the participants attention to thefact that the participants etiquette includes that you have to share the story about

your model each time you have built a model.


LEGOSERIOUS PLAY

skills building

Metaphors

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LEGO SERIOUS PLAY skills building

The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method must be implemented correctly to be successful.

Thus, participants must be introduced to the method and its use in accordance with the

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY skills building program. As s oon as participants are proficient

in the method and the process, they will be able to use the method constructively and

efficiently during a facilitated workshop.

In order for a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop to be successful, it is vital that

participants are introduced to the use of the method by first exploring the three phases

of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY and the act of building itself. Letting the participants become

acquainted with the method before using it for workshop purposes, will ensure the

participants experience of flow in the subsequent LEGO SERIOUS PLAY processes.

What is flow?

The theory of flow, developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, states that individuals gain

most from a learning or developmental process when they are committed to and enjoy

the process. It is imperative for a participants engagement in a developmental process

that they experience optimum stretch in terms of cognitive and emotional involvement

in other words, that their skills and resources are suitably challenged. Flow theory states

that if a developmental process is not enough of a challenge, the individual gets bored

and the learning curve tails off.

By contrast, if individuals are presented with too difficult a challenge, they become

anxious, have difficulty memorizing, and lose grasp of the situation, which also results

in a falling learning curve. Humans feel good and develop best, and therefore learn the

most, when they are presented with assignments that challenge them optimally neither

too little, nor too much.

With this knowledge from the flow theory, LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY workshops should start off with

people in flow so that they as individuals and

as a group gain the most from the process. The

facilitator has the responsibility of ensuring flow in

the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY process. To ensure flow,

the facilitator must use their knowledge of the specific

group of participants as individuals and as a group,

closely monitoring the process and adjusting

questions to promote the participants experience

of flow.

The most important time to ensure flow is when a group of people begin l earning the

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY process, and the facilitator does this by following the LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY skills building process and principles.


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LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5LEGOSERIOUS PLAY

skills building

To introduce participants to the use of metaphors, they should first be asked to

build a creature in LEGO bricks (a normal, non-metaphorical representation). After

this, the facilitator gives the participants just four minutes to turn the creature into

a representation of the ideal boss or the worst imaginable boss you can think of.

This is a turning-point which shifts participants into building on the metaphorical

plane. When participants have shared the meaning of their models, it will be obvi-

ous that each model has a number of different, metaphorically meaningful featureswhich the facilitator can highlight in order to emphasize this special way of using

the bricks.

To further develop experience with building metaphors and add the storytelling

element, participants are invited to build a metaphorical representation of My

Monday mornings. This challenge will help participants see that they can use the

bricks and their metaphors to share a storyline and share personal experiences.

In each of these stages, as in every stage of a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY session,

participants should build (individually, simultaneously) and then share (going round

each participant in turn, each telling the story of their model). The facilitator should be

aware of conveying the Participants Etiquette to the participants during the skills building

challenges. If these three building challenges do not s eem to get participants into flow

with the use of the method, the facilitator should make sure that they reach a state of

flow by having them go through some more lightweight building challenges that build

their skills in using the method rather than rushing to the workshop process.

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LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5When and why to useLEGOSERIOUS PLAY

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is a tool which can be used

in a wide range of contexts. Unsurprisingly, however,

its use is more appropriate in some situations than in

others. A LEGO SERIOUS PLAY practitioner should

be sensitive to the needs of a client and should select

the most appropriate tools.

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, at its heart, is a method

for the facilitation of dialogue and constructive

communication within groups of people known or

related to each other. It is based on the belief that

everyone can contribute to the discussion, the

decisions and the outcome.

Therefore it is best suited to:

Team building, where a group of people work

together (but do not necessarily know each

other very well)

Working out the best solution to a

shared problem

Strategy development, where all relevant indi-

viduals get the opportunity to contribute their

vision of the aims and challenges, and consoli-

date these with the ideas of others

Creating a shared mindset about something

Understanding each others points of view on a

deeper level

Having effective and constructive discussionswhere everybody is heard

Unleashing creative thinking

Understanding eachothers points of viewon a deeper level

What LEGO SERIOUS PLAY canachieve in organizations

When a leader or manager wants to gather the full

individual and team brain power to work on complex

business issues such as developing strategy plans,

handling conflicts, forming and developing teams

and working with turnaround and restructuring then

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is the method of choice.

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY has been used at companies

worldwide as an innovative way to increase the com-

mitment, confidence and insight of their executives,

managers and employees. It has been used for a

broad range of purposes, including:

Strategy development and exploration

Examining and evaluating relations to external

partners and clients.

Organizational development For management,

teams and individual employees.

Innovation and product development

Unleashing creative thinking and transforming

ideas into concrete concepts.

Change management Facilitating and

implementing structural changes and mergers.

Experience shows great relevance of the LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY method in other areas such as

scenario development and testing, mergers andacquisitions, branding, leadership and team

development, turnaround and restructuring,

market entry, operational efficiency and

competitive analysis.

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LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5Reflection, ownershipand collaboration

A central strength of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is that participants in the process are

encouraged and enabled to:

Having participated in the intense, creative and exhilarating process of a LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY session, participants are more likely to feel ownership of the analysis

and decisions made. Having been central to the creation of something and having

been listened to individuals are more inclined to take ownership of the consequent

actions.

Collaboration, too, is strengthened through listening and experiencing a positive,

constructive dialogue. Participants come away with skills to communicate more

effectively, to engage their imaginations more readily, and to approach their work

with increased confidence, commitment and i nsight.

Think andreflect

Contributeto the com-municationprocess

Listen toeach other

Think andcommuni-cate in adifferentway thantheyusually do.

Accessing new and/or different information in

your mind setting yourself free from the usual

thinking patterns and automatic thoughts you

run into when confronted with the topic

Starting and inspiring an associative

process where the metaphors as well as the

LEGO bricks work as inspirators for new

thoughts and connections

Finding new lines of thought

Helping the individual keep different points in

mind as they are represented in the model

while working further on the associative trail.

Externalizing thoughts, feelings, experiences

from the person, thus giving the person a

possibility to look at these things from an

outside view, and consider it all as something

that can be acted on, instead of as something

that is a part of themselves.

Thinking withthe hands

The process of reflectingwhile you seek to translateyour thoughts intometaphors, is ahelpful process for:

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LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5Using LEGOSERIOUS PLAY

As noted above, participants in a LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY workshop should be taken through a ba sic

skills building session in order for them to obtain the

experience of flow when working with the bricks a nd

the method, and in order to gain the most benefit from

the workshop.

After the skills building has been completed, the

facilitator can take the participants to the actual

workshop level, where the participants use the

Each of these different ways to use the method

follows the three basic process steps every time.

A LEGO SERIOUS PLAY process typically begins

with participants building individual models. They

might then be asked to build additions to models they

have already built, and to build connections between

models already built.

Additions could, for instance, be building challenges

that ask participants to further investigate a detail

Different ways to use the method:

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method to engage actively

in a process with a specific focus or theme. The

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method can be used in a

variety of different ways as long as the core of the

method is kept intact by making sure that the ba sic

process steps are followed, and that the facilitator and

the participants adhere to the Etiquette and code of

conduct. The different ways of using the method can

be combined in different ways in order to serve the

purpose of the workshop.

IndividualModels

Additions AdditionsConnections Connections

Process orientation

concerning the issue they have just reflected upon, or

could be a building challenge that as k participants to

add another dimension or perspective to the model

they have already built.

Connections are built between two or more models,

and they can be shown with placement by placing

the models at a certain distance and in a certain

direction towards each other or by physically

building the relation between two models in a

manner which represents the kind of relationship.

Additions and connections can be built in relation

to shared models as well, and these can be built

individually, or together as a group.

Shared models are built by combining individual

models into one model, through a process of

dialogue and negotiation.

Shared model building requires a very skilled facilitator,

as there may be a lot of complex group dynamics in

play. Shared model building requires skilled facilitation

during the building phase, which the individual model

building does not.

When planning to use shared model building in a

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY session, it is crucial to keep

the following in mind:

A building challenge for shared models must

always be posed as an individual building chal-

lenge before it is posed as a shared building

challenge. This means that whenever a shared

model is being built, participants have always

Handling shared model building

SharedModels

29

built their individual response to the building

challenge before they are asked to engage in

the shared model building process. This ensures

that everybodys voice is heard, and that

everybody will have something to contribute

to the shared model.

Building a shared model should not be a matter

of finding the lowest common denominators

from the individual models. A shared model

building process should have the purpose of

getting as many details and nuances of the

groups reflections in the shared model, and it

should strive towards capturing that essence

which each of the group members can accept

and recognize as part of their shared reality.

Reaching this will be the responsibility of the

facilitator and requires excellent facilitation skills.

When different ways of building have been used

during a workshop, participants can reflect on the

different responses that have been built in order to

gain deeper understandings.


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With the purpose of reaping most benefit from the LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY process, the two most important things for the

facilitator to keep in mind are:

The purpose of using LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is to make

way for constructive reflection and dialogue for the

system to gain insight and find their own answers (the

system being the group of individuals and their relations

to each other). This implies a focus on open-ended

building challenges and facilitating questions as well as

on the reflection and dialogue as a goal in itself.

The concept provides a tool that should be utilized to its

full potential. That tool is the LEGO models and their being

physically present representations of peoples thoughts,

reflections, ideas, opinions, hopes, dreams, fears, and

narratives. Using LEGO SERIOUS PLAY to its full

potential means exploiting the presence of the physical

LEGO models, and fully engaging with them and the

meanings that they contain.

So combined with the basic value that the answer is in the system,

the facilitators main task is to help the participants express

themselves, listen to each other, and take each others reflections

into account. The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitators goal when

using the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method should not be to drive

the group to a certain conclusion, or a certain decision or opinion.

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshops should always be run through

facilitation. Facilitating a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop is a

skill and a craft.

Facilitation in the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY context prescribes a

certain way of handling the process.

The concept of facilitation in a business context is about leading

meetings and processes to run optimally, to give the best

possible results for the group and the group members. The

fundamental meaning of the word facilitation is, making

something (difficult) easier. The facilitator can be a person

or an implement that drives the facilitated process. A range of

definitions of what facilitation is all conclude that facilitation is

about the process of helping people to explore, learn and develop.

The facilitators task is to get the groups dialogue to serve its

purpose and make the participants capable of expressing the

reflections and ideas that are needed for the group to reach their

goal (for example, to resolve their issue, to plan their strategy, or

to implement company values). The role of the LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY facilitator is, therefore, to make the reflection and dialogue

processes easier.

The behaviour of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitator is key

to how participants experience the process, and to its success.

When facilitating LEGO SERIOUS PLAY processes, the facilitator

must keep the basic values (described above) in mind. They must

employ behaviour that expresses these basic values. The facilitators

code of conduct (also described above) indicates how the

facilitator should handle their role during the process.

LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5Leading the processthrough facilitation

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One of the principal advantages of the method is that

it is an excellent tool for externalizing participants

reflections. The term externalizing describes how the

thoughts participants share during the process are

distanced from the person because they are built as

LEGO models. The participants thoughts are expressed

in a way that makes it easy for participants to explore

as a group what has been expressed individually.

Externalizing individual reflections in this way distances

them from the individual, making it easier to explore

the reflections without challenging the person who

expressed them.

At the same time, the LEGO models (as physical

representations) help anchor what has been said

during the process, which makes dialogue and

subsequent reflection flow better from the individual

and from the group. If a discussion has gone off on a

tangent, externalization provides the perfect method

for getting it back on track, by leading the discussion

back to the physical models in front of the

participants and what they can read from them.

The SERIOUS PLAY process is focused on the

participants reflections and dialogue. The facilitators

job is to help participants reflect and express themselves

via the LEGO models they build during the process.

The facilitator can best achieve this by demonstrating

curiosity and showing an interest in the model the

individual participant has built and the s tory they tell

about it. The facilitator does this by asking questions

that encourage the participant to dig deeper into the

meaning of their model and the story attached to it.

LSP:Open-Source/1/2 /3 /4/5Reflection and Dialogue

The facilitators opinion, interpretation or understanding

of the model and the story becomes irrelevant in the

sense that the process has the purpose of getting the

participants to gain more insight through their own

reflection and dialogue. The facilitator must avoid the

role of censor. They must never decide the meaning

of a model, and may never decide how relevant or

irrelevant, or how good or poor, the models are.

The facilitators most efficient tool in the process is

to ask questions and show genuine interest in taking

a deeper look into the thoughts, feelings and ideas

conveyed through the models and their assigned

stories. Even though the facilitator must take this neutral

position in the process, the facilitator still has a

powerful way of influencing the process through

the questions they pose. Good facilitating questions

are an effective way of influencing the process.

The LEGO models:Externalization

With the LEGO models, externalization is integrated

into the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method as a

familiar and effective means by which to express

participants reflections. The facilitator must

maintain focus on the models, consistently using

them as tools as participants explore their own

and each others reflections. The facilitators

questions must consistently relate to models built

during the processand they must encourage

participants to do the same.

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LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5Creating LEGOSERIOUS PLAY

workshops that work

When creating LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

workshops that work, the facilitator fulfils

the following tasks:

2. Setting the scene,

conveying LSP etiquette

3. Facilitating the process

open-endedly

1. Planning and prepairing

the process

Facilitator

The facilitator prepares i.e. creates and plans the

LSP workshop, and in doing that there are several

things that they should be aware of and should

consider.

First and foremost, the process will be formed and

influenced very much by the building challenges that

are making up the workshop.

Model:

The facilitatorstasks

4. Ensuring participants

experience of flow

Formulating the building challenges

The open-ended approach

The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitator has the task of planning the LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY process. In advance, they need to prepare building challenges relevant for the

particular workshop. As mentioned above, the formulation of building challenges has acrucial impact on the process, and it is important that the building challenges are

formulated in a way that means they will serve the purpose of the workshop, and

ensure the integrity of the method.

The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method is built upon an open-ended approach. The

basic philosophy is that challenges should open up to reflection, rather than ask for

definitive correct responses. The approach presupposes that a challenge has a

developmental effect when there are several different correct or true solutions.

This means that when participants are presented with a challenge, there are many

different ways to meet and solve the challenge, and a challenge should be formulated

exactly to meet this rich approach to reality.

In formulating building challenges, the facilitator must strive to ask open-ended

questions that encourage reflection and dialogue. In this context, open-ended

questions are often all about thoughts, imagined future scenarios, and things that

have yet to happen.

The aim of the building challenges is to reach the core of what participants should

reflect on. Questions should also focus on experiences and characteristics, rather

than on hard facts and concrete knowledge.

Participants tend to see a good building challenge as one that is easily understood and

that triggers their thoughts in an unusual way. When formulating each separate building

challenge, the facilitator will naturally benefit from consultancy experience andprofessional perspectives about the specific participant group.

Progression from one building task to the next

Building a process with several consecutive building challenges that form layers often

works well to move teams on in their exploration and learning.

Questions forming layers are questions that move from one level of reflection to

another. The aim of constructing several layers into building tasks is that several

rounds of reflection on the same theme from a variety of perspectives will expand

the scope of participants reflections and produce more nuanced dialogue.

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Size and scale of a workshop

A LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop typically involves

four to eight people. Groups of more than eight tend

to be too big, so that the process of going round the

table hearing about constructions might become

tiresome (or might put pressure on individuals to

speed up), and can make it difficult for participants to

remember all of the meanings and stories. A workshop

can involve as few as two participants, although a

group of four to eight is optimal bringing the energy

of different people and more ideas.

In terms of materials required, each participant should

be given a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Starter Kit.

(item no. 2000414) for the skills-building exercises.

The workshop group will make collective use of one

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Identity and Landscape Kit

(item no. 2000415), and if connections are to be built

between models, participants will benefit from having

one LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Connections Kit (item no.

2000413).

Note that one workshop group requires one facilitator. It is not

possible to facilitate two groups side by side (for example,

two tables, each with eight participants, in the same room)

because each group would need focused attention from the

facilitator, at the same time so this is not possible

This is an example of one basic LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY session, which is designed for a working team

that wish to unlock further potential in their working

relationships and what they can achieve. The

process allows the participants to reflect on their

own feelings, reactions and responses, and to

deepen their knowledge of themselves, and how

they relate to the team.

At each stage, as is always the case in LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY workshops, the participants build,

and then share the story of what they have built

with each other.

Materials needed:one LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Starter Kit

(item no. 2000414) for each participant, for the skills-building

exercises; one Identity and Landscape Kit (item no. 2000415),

and one LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Connections Kit (it em no.

2000413).

Outline of a basic LEGO SEROUS PLAY session

LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5Creating LEGOSERIOUS PLAY

workshops that work

Focus Facilitators instructions/ Building Challenge Duration

Skills Building

(Several individual builds)

Core identity

(Individual build)

Aspirational Identity

(Individual build)

Aspirational Identity

(Individual build)

Team Life

(Individual build)

Shared Team Life

(Shared build)

Team Connections 1

(Individual build)

Team Connections 2

(Individual build)

First of all, the participants go through the several stages of a skills-

building session, as described above.

Build a model showing who you are on this team. What do you bring to

the team? What could you bring? Consider building some of the functions

that you carry out on the job, but also some aspects of you that are more

hidden.

Build an addition to your model that shows how you think others in your

team perceive you.

Who are you at your best, right now? Build another addition to your model

showing your thoughts about this what characterizes you right now when

you are at your best?

Keep your model but set it aside for now, you will need it later.

How do you perceive your team? Build a new model showing what you

believe your team is all about what is the spirit, the feel, of the team

right now?

Build a shared model that shows what your team is all about what is the

teams perception of the team? What is the teams shared perception of

the spirit and the feel of the team life?

When the team has built their shared model, the facilitator asks for a

volunteer to tell the story of the model. The other team members may

contribute to the story.

Now, position your own identity model in connection to the shared model

of your Team Life. Use the position of your model to say something more

about the team and about your connection/relation to the team.

Build two or three connections between your own identity model and the

shared Team Life model. Have your connections show and tell about what

in your team life you feel the most connected to and how.

Aspirational Team Life

(Individual build)

Shared Aspirational Team Life

(Shared build)

Look at the models we have on the table, connected to each other, show-

ing each of you in relation to your team and showing your teams shared

perception of the team life.

Now, each build a model showing what you aspire to be like as a team in

the future.

Build a shared model that shows what you aspire to be like as a team.

Going through a process of this kind would take at least one day, and participants are likely to

become tired this kind of play is hard work. Make sure that pleasant breaks, and a nice lunch,

are scheduled.

6090 minutes total

15 minutes building and

15 minutes sharing


10 minutes sharing


10 minutes sharing


15 minutes sharing

30 minutes

5 minutes positioning

and 15 minutes sharing

10 minutes building and 10

minutes sharing

15 minutes building and 15

minutes sharing

30 minutes

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LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5Taking it further

Why choose training in LEGO SERIOUS PLAY?

The benefits of an external LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitator

This document was intended to provide a general

introduction to the basic principles of LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY. However, it is not possible to fully learn and

appreciate the strengths of the method simply by

reading a short document. In particular, developing a

suitable facilitation style takes time and practice, and it is

especially helpful to see a trained professional in action.

Therefore we strongly recommend that new users

seek training in LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitation.

Before the method and materials were open source,

many consultancy professionals attended intensive

week-long training sessions run by the LEGO Group.

That training is no longer offered by the LEGO Group,

training programs and coaching is available from

those existing trained practitioners in the LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY community. To find such trainingclose to you, visit www.seriousplay.com, which includes

links to LEGO SERIOUS PLAY communities around

the world.

There are also the interpersonal dynamics to consider.

When a boss or a colleague is asking you a question

or giving you feedback, you will always consider that

question or the feedback in the context of the relation

you have to that person. You cannot take your

everyday relation out of the equation when you are

making interventions in the system.

Using an external and trained consultant to create

and drive the intervention will ensure that the

intervention is much more likely to be the right one,

and will help the organization reach their goals of

change or development.

Hiring in an external consultant should be more cost

efficient, because that external consultant should be

able to make the right intervention and make it the

right way the first time around. Also the involvement

of an external consultant will ensure that involved

employees will feel in safe hands because they are

not confronted with their boss asking something from

them which might contain a hidden agenda. Instead

they are confronted with a consultant looking for

greater insight and trying to help the organization find

their own answers.

As we have seen, LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is a

method and a tool for making interventions in

organizations, on the management level creating

the company strategy, or developing the organizations

values or on an employee level helping teams

work well together, or implementing organizational

values.

In organizations every intervention has the goal of

affecting the system (the system being the people

that make up the organization and their relationships

to each other). You affect the system because you

want it to move forward, change and develop. Designing

such an intervention is a skilled task, requiring

experience and insight. It has been observed and

established that when managers within an organization

try to create interventions, they are just as much a part of

the system as the people they are trying to affect and

therefore they cannot see the needs of the employees

clearly enough to create the right intervention.

Being part of the system yourself will make it very

difficult to know which questions will invoke the right

reflection process, and ultimately the wished for

change process.

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LSP:Open-Source/1/2/3 /4/5Taking it further

Getting started with LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

The above describes what the LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY concept is and how it is used as a method

in general. If you want to run LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

workshops and take upon yourself the role of the

facilitator, you need to consider how you make

yourself ready to handle the method so that you

and your workshop participants will get the mostout of using it.

Running an efficient and successful LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY workshop requires a skilled facilitator, deep

knowledge about the LEGO SERIOUS PL AY

process, and experience with facilitating such

processes. Being a skilled LEGO SERIOUS PLAY

facilitator requires that you have insight into the pitfalls

and essentials of the method and that you have

practical, hands-on experience with the use of the

method. If you have never used the LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY method before as a facilitator, it is strongly

recommended that you build up your practical

knowledge about the method as well as your skills

as a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitator.

First of all, in order to appreciate the method and

understand it fully it is recommended that you

experience a range of different LEGO SERIOUS

PLAY workshops as a participant.

Secondly, to ensure your success with the method, it is

recommended that you train your skills as a facilitator

of the process by fa cilitating a number of lightweight

workshops in settings and with groups of people

where the process is not likely to do any harm if any

mistakes should occur.

Train your skills to conduct an efficient and purposeful

skills building process by taking a group of friends or

colleagues through it a couple of times, without a long

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop after it.

Practice your formulation of good building challenges

by testing different building challenges on friends

or colleagues (who have been taken through the

basic skills building exercises first). Test your

building challenges on yourself and continue to

do this every time you pl an a workshop even when

you are an experienced facilitator.

Be aware of the fact that the process can bring

up things in the dialogue that you could not have

foreseen and prepare for this situation. Train your

facilitation skills to handle this situation by taking

different groups of people through different test

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY processes that you create.

Go further online

See the website, www.seriousplay.com, for further

information, and for links into the growing LEGO

SERIOUS PLAY community.

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LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Brick, Knob configuration and

the Minifigure are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010

The LEGO Group

LSP:Open-Source/1/2 /3 /4/5

Documents

Lego(r) Serious Play Opensource - Unknown